Shocker: AdKeeper Survey on Why Users Don’t Click Banner Ads

A new survey from New York-based AdKeeper (Scott Kurnit of About.com) and 247realmedia.com reports that the primary reason people don’t click banner ads is because they do not wish to be taken away from their current online activity. Not exactly a big reveal. The results would be good news for AdKeeper if users had also said they would be thrilled to click on a banner ad if only they could put this banner ad in a little e-pocket and save it for later. It would also be more compelling if the survey hadn’t been done by Nielson, the metrics company that has been famously out-of-step with measuring media engagement and consumption on the internet for years.

61 percent say, “Online banner ads take me away from my current website, or from what I am doing.”
58 percent say online banner ads are not that relevant to them.
57 percent are wary of opening something they’ll wish they hadn’t.
57 percent are afraid of receiving spam from advertisers.
55 percent are worried about getting a virus.
54 percent don’t trust most online banner ads they see.
46 percent worry that pop-ups will take over their screen.
43 percent say online banner ads don’t seem interesting or engaging. 31 percent only want to click ads when they’re in the mood or interested in looking at them.
31 percent are worried that their Internet behavior will be tracked.

Only the two points in bold would seem to support AdKeeper’s premise–that users will engage more with ads they can bookmark and view later. The “keep” button AdKeeper is pushing is unlikely to persuade users who find ads irrelevant, spammy, dangerous or boring, or are worried about having their activity tracked.

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